


Sacrifices

by LaceFedora



Series: Redamancy AU [2]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy
Genre: Gen, Giving up a child, Jedi being shit at dealing with slavery, Older! Obi-Wan AU, Redamancy AU, Slavery, Tatooine
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-02
Updated: 2016-02-02
Packaged: 2018-05-17 20:14:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,683
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5884042
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LaceFedora/pseuds/LaceFedora
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jedi Knight Obi-Wan Kenobi has a chance encounter with Shmi Skywalker on Tatooine.</p><p>(takes place fortnight before Redamancy)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Sacrifices

**Author's Note:**

> Originally written for a drabble prompt from inksplatteredwolf over on tumblr. 
> 
> This is the new and improved version.

Obi-Wan decided immediately that he didn’t care for Tatooine. Normally he tried to keep an open mind in new places, but being immediately blasted with heat and sand as he stepped off his craft did not put him in a good mood. He frowned, squinting and pulling his hood up to ward off the light from the suns even as it made him even hotter. He was already very likely to get a sunburn, no sense in helping it along. Most of the locals had themselves shaded one way or another anyway. It would be helpful for him to blend in. 

 

He’d tracked their missing man back to Tatooine. Mos Espa wasn’t the largest city on the planet but at the moment it was absolutely packed with spectators for the upcoming podrace. Obi-Wan cursed his bad luck, this was going to make his job much more difficult. He headed to the nearest eating establishment. It was crowded with lifeforms. Several people bumped into him as soon he stepped inside. Obi-wan just sighed and squeezed through the fray. The press of bodies was irritating but not unbearable. His instincts told him where to go to not be crushed in the bustle. He heard a clatter behind him and turned to find a dark-haired woman was not to lucky as he. She had a small baby in a sling, kneeling from her fall, a tray of food is a few feet away, everything on it scattered on the floor. She lookied at it unhappily while she curled around her child, protecting it from the moving crowd.

 

Obi-Wan moved very quickly back to her, helping her up and through the crowd, shielding them both. His hand brushed the baby’s tiny arm as they moved and for a moment it was as though time froze. The force pulsed around them. Obi-Wan had never sensed anything so strong with the force. He blinked at the baby in surprise and large blue eyes peered back at him. Suddenly time resumed and Obi-Wan shook himself, hurrying to get them into a booth and out of harm’s way.

 

“Are you all right my lady?” Obi-Wan asked the woman. She blinked up at him then gave him a gentle, exasperated smile.

 

“I am not a lady, though I appreciate the sentiment. I will be fine. Thank you for helping us. I’m afraid I will still have to get to the front and gather a new meal. My mistress did not like what Jabba served her, she sent me here for different fare.” She said, her dark eyes taking him in and looking him over. There was something piercing about them, something that cut through him. It was a the sort of look that Obi-Wan rarely saw among non-Jedi. He had no doubt she was force sensitive. Though it was hard to sense her own light over the blinding energy coming from the baby.

 

“You are a slave then.” Obi-Wan said, that would explain why the poor woman was up and about with her child. From the look of both of them, the boy couldn’t be older than one. The force nudged him in one direction and Obi-Wan decided his mission can wait an hour. “If you would allow me I could purchase the new meal for you and then help you back outside.” He offered. She watched him again for a moment, clearly deciding. 

 

“You are like him?” She asked him, pulling her child closer against her. Obi-Wan doesn’t pretend that he doesn’t understand what she’s talking about.

 

“Yes.” He said and looked down at the boy seeing blue eyes still watching him. Obi-Wan smiles; the child hadn’t stopped staring at him since they’d sat down. “I am also force sensitive. I'm a Jedi.” he confirmed for her and she nodded at him slowly. 

 

“Then yes, master Jedi, you may help me.” She said. Obi-Wan smiled at her instead and gets up, bowing to her lightly before he fetched the replacement meal for her. He came back with it. Whoever the woman's master was, they had expensive taste. He helped her outside with the baby and the tray. No easy task with this group. He breathed a sigh of relief when they reached the street. The woman took the tray from him once they were away from the crowd.

 

“I have heard that the Jedi take children like them, bring them back to be raised in the temple. Is that what happened to you?” She asked him as they started to walk in her direction. Obi-wan blinked at her directness but there wasn't any reason not to answer.

 

“Yes, I was accepted into the Creche at the Coruscant temple when I was just two.” Obi-Wan said, looking over at her.

 

“Did you ever see your family again?” She asked him, face concerned. Obi-Wan smiles again.

 

“Of course. If the parents wish it, the child can come for visits. I visited my parents and younger brother from time to time.” He told her. It had been some time since he'd spoken to them, perhaps he should reach out to them again.

 

“If this were a Republic controlled planet, you would have come for Anakin.” She said with a certainty and Obi-Wan nodded in agreement, assuming that Anakin was the boy’s name. 

 

“Yes. He is very strong in the force. It’s a wonder I didn’t sense him as soon as I made planet fall.” Obi-Wan admitted. The woman stopped walking abruptly and turned toward him.

 

“Will you take him now?” She asked him, her tone urgent. “He is not meant to be a slave. Even I can see that.” Obi-Wan frowned, he worried that had been coming.

 

“I do not think anyone is meant to be a slave, Lady.” He told her honestly. “But I'm afraid I have no authority to take him. The Jedi do not have jurisdiction in the Outer Rim. And I came here on a different mission, not to free slaves.”

 

“My name Shmi Skywalker, Master Jedi, and on Tatooine children die in the slave quarter often. When they are this young, our masters do not take notice. If they are strong enough to live past it then they are considered useful. If he were to disappear now it would not be suspicious.” She told him, her voice calm and steady. This was something she'd thought about before. Obi-Wan swallowed, considering his options. She was right. One child this young was unlikely to be missed. 

 

“Tomorrow is the podrace, correct?” He asked and she nodded, frowning. “You will be in the slave quarter during the race, then. If I have found how I'm here to find by then, or if I find he has already left the planet, then I will come back to you and discuss Anakin’s future. Is that acceptable Lady Skywalker?” He asked her.

 

“Very well," She said after a long moment, "But I would not tarry too long, sir. My mistress likes to bet many things, including her slaves. We could be gone tomorrow depending on the results of the races.” Shmi informed him, absently calming a fussing Anakin.

 

“I understand.” Obi-Wan said and bowed to her. “My name is Knight Obi-Wan Kenobi and I will see you shortly." With that he left her to her duties, throwing himself back into his mission.

 

By the next morning Obi-Wan has his man under arrest and when Obi-Wan has seen him off for transport, he found himself standing right outside the Slave quarter. The Force has certainly given him clear enough signs. Shmi, it seemed, saw similar signs as well. When he arrived at her homestead, following that strong force presence, she was waiting for him, along with everything he would need for a journey back to Coruscant with an infant. When she came to him, he accepted Anakin into his arms, letting her arrange him into the proper position. The Baby doesn't fuss, simply settling against Obi-Wan's chest.

 

“You are sure about this?” He asked her, looking away from the child. “I cannot promise you will ever see him again.” He looked into her deep brown eyes and saw only certainty and love for her child.

 

"I am certain, master Kenobi, you must promise me to keep an eye on him." She said. He smiled at her and nodded. He could certainly do at least that much. He watched as she leans in and kissed her son’s wispy blond hair one last time, sensing her melancholy behind her brave face.

 

Obi-Wan hesitated a moment, thinking, then shifted Anakin in his arms, reaching into his pocket. He pulled out his holocom unit and handed it to her. he could always requisition a new one.

 

“I will keep you updated.” He promised her and for the first time he saw tears in her eyes. He blinked finding himself hugged with Anakin between them. The baby cooed happily at his mother.

 

“Thank you Master Kenobi.” She whispered, then she touches her son’s hair one more time. “I will see you again, my Ani.” She told her son, and Obi-Wan was suddenly sure that she would and he was glad of it. As he took Anakin away with him none of the other slaves took notice, or if they did they pretended not to. 

 

An hour later he was squeezing into his ship with the boy. He kneeled and set up a secure baby seat that he'd thankfully found among the emergency supplies. It was just barely a common enough occurrence for Jedi to find force sensitive children that the ship was stocked. He picks up anakin and puts him into the seat.

 

"It's a long journey little Ani. We will be getting to know each other." Obi-Wan says and touches the baby's hair. The boy had been a bit fussy, but he was fairly easy to sooth with force tricks. Obi-Wan knew it wouldn't be long before the loss of his mother was upsetting him though.

 

Obi-Wan looked at the boy for a long moment. This certainly hadn’t been what he’d expected. Master Yoda was likely to be endlessly amused.


End file.
